An LTCC beam-switching antenna with high beam overlap for 60-GHz mobile access points

We present a flat switched-beam antenna that achieves a wide angular coverage (±38°) and limited scan losses in V-band. The system features two broadband continuous transverse stub (CTS) arrays, each fed by a pillbox beamformer. The two antennas are designed so that the radiated beams are interleaved. In this way, high beam overlap levels (-3 dB) and low side lobe level are simultaneously attained. A switch network excites one of the two apertures at a time and selects the desired beam. The system is fully integrated in a low-profile multilayer low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) module. The proposed architecture and technology are suitable for millimeter-wave access points in next generation mobile networks